Kim’s Korner Blog Post

October is busy here at the Horizon Center. Please come see us for activities, information and assistance. Open Enrollment for insurance is October 15 through December 7, 2017. This is a very busy and confusion time for everyone looking at insurance. There are so many insurance companies and many plans with each company. It is enough to make your head spin. Let us help you with this. Kathy McFarland, our SHIPP counselor, will help you through the maze of paperwork and information. She can help you find the most appropriate insurance plan for you according to your diagnosis and what medication you take. Each different plan covers different medications at different levels of cost. Each plan costs according to what benefits you receive. Open Enrollment is the only time that you can change your insurance plan if you are not happy with it during the year. It is good to have someone who is aware of the plans to help navigate through this maze with you. Please call Shelby Senior Services at 317-398-0127 to set up appointment with Kathy McFarland. Fraud continues to rear its ugly head almost daily at the center. I’ve been getting phone calls or receiving information daily about scams that are happening. The next big thing that is changing and will be a prime opportunity for people to be scammed is when the government is changing how the Medicare Cards will look like. Medicare Cards will no longer have your social security number on them. Medicare is concerned that people that are trying to scam people will start calling soon as ask for your personal information because they want to verify your information prior to sending out new Medicare Cards in April 2018-April 2019. Just remember Medicare WILL NEVER CALL OR ASK YOU FOR PERSONAL INFORMATION before sending out new cards. Here is information provided from IAAAA regarding the new Medicare cards:

IAAAA | September 1, 2017 To prevent fraud and identity theft, beginning next year in April, Medicare will mail its 55.3 million beneficiaries new cards on which the Social Security Number (SSN) will be replaced with a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) of 11 letters and numbers. Con artists are opportunists and target seniors, especially in times of transition or change. Senior Medicare Patrols (SMPs) nation-wide are already receiving reports from beneficiaries of calls from scammers posing as government officials from Medicare, Social Security Administration, IRS, etc. They may claim they need to confirm the beneficiary’s SSN and charge a fee for the new card to expedite the service. Medicare will NOT charge for the new card, nor will they call to confirm the SSN! Beneficiaries that receive calls like this should hang up and report it to Indiana SMP. The only change to the Medicare program is the mailing of the new card beginning April 2018 and continuing through April 2019. Medicare benefits are not affected. Medicare recommends shredding the old card upon receipt of the new card. Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers should continue to protect the new Medicare card information and not give out ANY personal information to strangers or unsolicited medical providers. As we say in SMP, “Guard your card!”

Please contact us at Shelby Senior Services at 1504 S Harrison St, Shelbyville, IN 46176. You can call 317-398-0127 or email at www.shelbyseniorservices.org. Please feel free to contract us with any questions that we might be able to help with regarding adults 60+.